


Protecting The Family

by Orcinus234



Series: Adventures of the Great Knight Nino [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Awesome Nino Lahiffe, Friendship, Guard Nino, Nino is the best friend ever, Prince Adrien Agreste, Protect Adrien Agreste
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 07:11:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12076086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orcinus234/pseuds/Orcinus234
Summary: Nino is a guard under the rule of King Gabriel Agreste and his young son Prince Adrien. He's only been working as a guard for a year and he's already caught in the middle of drama. The cause of it really.





	Protecting The Family

**Author's Note:**

> Just to make it easier, even though it's revealed later on, Nino is 16 and Adrien is 10. Other characters are mainly just mentioned so you might be able to guess Kim's age. You might have noticed that the Series says Nino's a knight while the summery says he's a guard, he'll become a knight in a later fic.

It is hot out today, that is a fact that Nino wishes he could avoid. His armor and chain mail feel heavy, his helmet makes his head sweaty and almost unbearably warm – he’s glad that his hair is short though, his much older fellow guard complains about how he needs to shave his head in order to guard the Eastern gate – His gloves make his hands sweaty, traditional spear feeling like it might slip out of his hand at any moment, the green dyed horse hairs on his helmet tickle his neck whenever he so much as tilts his head and his sword feels heavier than usual on his hip. Nino knows that he is bound by duty to do whatever job he is assigned without question, but he can’t help but wish he could go back to his usual guard duty, but he knows that it is fairly unlikely knowing the kind of person the King is.

On normal occasions, he is assigned to guard the young Prince Adrien, or more specifically: make sure he pays attention to his tutor, finishes writing his poetry, make sure he eats appropriately, trains in the art of sword and finally practice formality in his everyday life. However, the King is a man who is suspicious of everyone, and Nino means _everyone_. Someone must have told the king about how Nino allowed the Prince to fall asleep in the garden, on the guard’s lap of all places. Nino thought it reasonable because the Prince had only been allowed five hours of sleep the previous night and had been worked past exhaustion the day prior and the day that he had fallen asleep on Nino’s lap. It also happened to be the Prince’s tenth birthday, yet the poor boy is rarely given a break, not even to celebrate until the town does, he at least deserved a nap. The King was “mildly” upset, but to keep a better opinion of the public, he didn’t punish the guard as harshly as he may have wanted to. And of course, the Prince was not aware of the whole thing and most likely found out when a different guard showed up the next morning.

Now, Nino has been assigned to the Eastern gate of the town below the pristine castle, the trading gate. In other words, the farthest place from the castle possible, seeing that the castle is on the west most side. Of course, Nino still has to return to the castle to store his spear in the armory and the fact that he has a room in the castle. Obviously, his room is nowhere close to the size of the Prince’s room, rather, Nino’s room is about the size of the Prince’s bed, which is big in bed standards, but small in room standards. Nino likes to think that the young Prince has taken a liking to him. Nino isn’t blind nor deaf, he’s noticed how the Prince always looks towards him when they are sitting on one of the massive couches of the grand library, his eyes asking if he can sit closer to the guard, how a day after Nino told the Prince his favorite food, the boy asked the cooks to make it, when the prince is practicing the art of the sword, he watches and listens to Nino more than his instructor or when Nino is conversing with his fellow guards in the shade of the oldest oak in the castle grounds on his days off, he sees the halo of the Prince’s hair a short distance away, obviously having escaped his tutor and guard for the day in search of Nino. Of course the King would be suspicious of him, it would be a great plan for an enemy to the kingdom, get close to the Prince and take him for a ransom. But Nino is loyal to the crown, he might not like the King so much, but the Prince is an angel, an insecure and lonely angel, which is why Nino became more friendly with him, because the little boy always looked so depressed when he thought no one was looking. Nino simply wanted to see the Prince smile, and he succeeded. It had been a rocky start, with Prince Adrien never having properly bonded with anyone including his tutors who don’t seem very… concerned about the Prince’s need for socialization, and with Nino only ever having seen the King and Prince from a distance at his orientation and Kingdom festivities before being introduced to them formally sometime after his orientation.

“Hold up please,” His fellow gate guard says, snapping Nino out of his thoughts.

A two horse drawn covered cart is making its way to the gate. The man holding the reins looks to be in his mid-forties. He’s wearing a large brown hooded shawl and the horses’ legs are covered in dried mud, probably having walked through rain. Part of being a guard is to be suspicious of everyone, but to not show it, always smile like an idiot, so that’s what Nino does. The man tells his horses to stop just before the guards. Nino walks forward to inspect the horses and cart, lifting the tarp with his spear at the ready. In the cart, there are crates full of delicate fruits, not stacks of crates, so Nino counts ten visible crates. Nino had eaten these types of fruits before, he knows they’re easy to crush and leave juices behind, so there are no signs of stowaways. In last week’s guard report on illegal dealings, the only underground market trades were slaves, before the royal guard got involved. No drug trades, no stolen gold or antiques, so this cart was clear. Nino lowers the tarp and kneels down to check underneath the cart. Nothing. Nino stands and finishes circling the cart, patting the left horse’s neck as he walks to the older guard who is inspecting the man’s documents.

“All clear, ten visible crates of crushable fruits with no sign of tampering,” Nino informs, resuming his post.

The other guard chuckles walking back over to the Man with his documents and a verified trading slip.

“You are free to pass. I wish you good trades,” he says to the man who in turn nods his head at the guard as he takes the papers. He flicks the reins and the horses pull the cart through the gate. The guard goes back to his own post, with a bright smile still on his face. Nino likes it when people smile, especially when it’s because of him, but this smile feels like it mocks him.

“What is it?” Nino deadpans.

“Hm?”

“You’re smiling like a fool.”

“I believe that’s in the job description.”

“Yes, but only when we have to talk to people. There’s no one else coming, so what is it?”

“Thought of something nice I suppose,” The guard’s smile widens and he playfully tugs at the collar of his cape.

“Care to elaborate?” Nino is smirking, but it’s quite sinister. He doesn’t like it when he’s not in on something.

The guard finally looks at him, smile still plastered on his face. He knows he’s not escaping Nino. All the guards know that if Nino wants information, he’s going to get information. The guard chuckles before turning his gaze back to the farmland.

“You’re too serious,” he states simply.

Nino pauses. Too serious? Nino had thought that he was doing everything how he was supposed to, working even harder to prove to the King that he is loyal to him, because he knows that the King will have others tracking his every move for the weeks to come. Nino thinks that he must look confused – which is true – because the guard continues to explain.

“I’ve always been posted here, but I am well acquainted with some of the guards that guard the palace, interesting mix of personalities. Especially that Kim guy,” he chuckles.

Nino isn’t quite following. The guard is still looking forward.

“They liked to make bets on tasks you would let the Prince slack off on every morning,” Nino chokes on his own breath. His fellow guards knew the whole time? “I never quite understood, but they explained it to me, how you act like an older brother to the Prince more than a guard.”

The guard finally looks at him, making eye contact, that stupidly kind smile still on his face.

“They said that you were always so relaxed around the Prince, even after you were done for the day. Obviously, you’re still serious about your job and the best swordsman that came to the guard this last year. Better than Kim, but I guess it would be better not to mention that to him, he’s very competitive like that.”

Nino was stunned into silence, not by the Kim part, he already knew all that, but rather, that the way this guard said it means that him and the other guards don’t dislike Nino’s friendship with the Prince. At the palace, the tutors and the wealthy lords and knights at the balls always showed distaste in how Prince Adrien seemed to stand closer to Nino and speak with him more than the people he shared similar status with. He never really paid attention to what the maids said or what expressions they wore, and he never discussed topics about what the Prince did because he was under the impression that he was forbidden from doing so. He thought that everyone disapproved of the relationship he built with the Prince, but it seems he was wrong. He smiled and opened his mouth to speak, but all of a sudden, his name was being called from within the gate.

“Nino!”

Nino turns seeing a guard he often has supper with in the common area. The guard is on a brown horse, sparsely decorated just to be noticed as a palace horse in the kingdom. One of the guard’s hands holds the reins, the other holds a scroll tied with a green ribbon with the kingdom insignia sewn into it with white thread.

“I am here. Is there something wrong?”

Nino turns to the horse riding guard.

“Your presence has been requested at the palace. I will be taking your place from here on in,” The guard hands Nino the scroll, who unties the ribbon and opens the scroll.

“Who has requested for…” Nino can’t believe what he’s reading, yet at the same time, he’s not surprised.

“As you may know, Lord Bourgeois arrived at the castle yesterday, bringing his daughter in hopes for arranging a marriage between her and the Prince. Unfortunately…” The guard pauses to let an amused grin take his face. “The meeting was missing a Prince. We know that he is still in the castle and someone saw him head towards his chambers, but when his chambers were searched, there was no sign of him.”

Both the guard on the horse and the other gate guard laugh. Nino just lets out a deep sigh rolling the scroll back up.

“I expected the King to want to have a second word with me concerning my employment, but I didn’t think he would actually reassign me to guarding the Prince.”

“If there is a Prince in the palace for you to guard anyway,” the gate guard jokes, a bad joke Nino might add.

The guard on the horse steps off the saddle and Nino trades him the spear for the reins. He has his own horse at the gate stables just around the corner, but he’ll take this guard’s horse there for him, it’s always been an unspoken deal with the guards. He places the horse in a stall, filling it’s water and giving it some feeding hay, and walks a few stalls down to his red stallion, Cap – his six-year-old brother named him, Nino doesn’t quite know what Cap means, but it seemed like a cool name for the horse – leading him out of the stable before hoping up into the saddle.

The King would most likely prefer it if Nino sent his stallion into a gallop to get to the palace as soon as possible, but because he didn’t write an order for him to do so, Nino will take some time. He knows that he isn’t the sole reason that Prince Adrien is hiding from his responsibilities – it feels weird for him to say that because it makes him feel like he has _too much_ influence over the Prince – he knows that Prince Adrien isn’t so keen on an arranged marriage. Prince Adrien and Princess Chloé had met several times before, but the Prince never found that he had any romantic feelings for her, although Princess Chloé sure seemed love struck… at the age of ten. Girls do ten to start maturing around this age, but Nino can’t help but think – because he would be in deep trouble if he said it, even in private – that Princess Chloé has only become more childlike over the years. Prince Adrien’s desire to fall in love rather than “go with the flow of the Kingdom” is completely Nino’s fault. The Prince could already read before Nino arrived at the castle, apparently starting at the age of two – which is incredible because Nino couldn’t read until he was twelve, when he started training to be a guard – but his supply of books was limited to government history, geography, more history, and more political readings. Nino at the age of twelve started by reading folk lore, fairy tales and nursery rhymes – also teaching his brother who tends to follow Nino around whenever he’s home, the Prince sometimes reminds Nino of his little brother, but he won’t say that – before he could get his hands on heavier books. Nino had simply meant it as a joke when he said that he feared the Prince was now too old for fairy tales – he was nine at the time – but apparently, the Prince didn’t get the joke because he had never heard of fairy tales. Being a young idiot lad at only 15, incredibly young for a guard but not uncommon, he returned home on his break, having already fixed his first meeting with the Prince and earning his trust, and took the few scrolls and small books that his brother wasn’t reading to oblivion, having to lie to his parents that he just wanted somethings to not feel homesick – which was actually partially true – who also sent him off with some homemade fruit bread that he shared with the Prince. The majority of the stories that Nino shared with him were about love or had a strong love connection between two characters, and the Prince absolutely loved them, begging Nino to bring him more and read them to him because Nino apparently has an amazing story teller voice.

Perhaps Cap knows the streets by heart himself or Nino unconsciously remembers the direction he is meant to travel, because before long, He is riding through the castle gates, nodding at Kim and his fellow guard. A stable hand is waiting for him at the entrance.

“If you would allow me, I will walk Cap to his stall and groom him for you. Give you more time to find the Prince… yet something tells me you already know where to find him.”

“I have a few ideas. Thanks,” He jumps down from his high saddle and pulls the reins over Cap’s head, handing them it to the stable hand.

Nino gives Cap a goodbye pat to the rump, knowing his stallion will behave. The stable hands love Cap, maybe because he is the gentlest yet most protective stallion in the castle. He’s patient and doesn’t make their job difficult, quite the opposite in fact. With a final wave to the stable hand, he climbs the stone steps to the large door, walking with pride and elegance in case the King or Lord Bourgeois might be viewing him from a distance. The stable hand was correct to assume that Nino would know where to find the Prince. He knew of the one place that he would go to only ever be found by Nino, a secret place where Prince Adrien can be just Adrien.

 

* * *

 

 

The window is smaller than most in the castle, but it lets in enough light for Nino to see the colorful blanket that poorly hides the small figure. The Prince probably thinks him someone else, who has somehow found the secret door, which is impossible, considering that the maids that clean the Prince’s room should have been the first to discover it – Nino knows for a fact that know else found out about it. The Prince is a very nervous and insecure person by nature, so hiding under a blanket in addition to hiding in the secret room – Nino doesn’t know how it is a secret considering it’s the size of the Prince’s room – is nothing new to Nino.

“You’re lucky that blanket is clean,” The Prince lets out a happy surprised gasp, struggling to get the blanket off him. He manages to get it off his head, but it hangs off his shoulders. The Prince’s hair is frizzy from being under the blanket, and his cheeks are a little puffy and pink, probably from crying. “If it was covered in dust, I would have some serious explaining to do to the maids about how the Prince came to be ghost white… Adrien.”

Adrien leaps to his feet and crashes into Nino, who lets out a dramatic “hmpf” at the collision. The boy holds Nino as tightly as he can, with the guard still wearing his armor, already having discarded his hot helmet the first chance he got. But even through his chest plate and heavy gloves, he could feel Adrien trembling as he sniffles.

“Now is not the time to cry. Lift your chin up, Adrien,” It was an established rule that took a few months to get to. Nino could only ever drop the “Prince” and call Adrien solely by his given name in this room alone. Nino was against calling him by just his name since the beginning because he didn’t want to get on the King’s bad side, especially when he just began. Adrien was desperate for someone to drop the “Prince” from his name, because he felt that it prevented him properly socializing, which is somewhat true. When they had discovered this room together, Adrien immediately set the rule that Nino had to call him by his given name in here and only here, because no one else knew of it. Nino reluctantly agreed, but he had found that calling Adrien by his given name is the fastest way to cheer the boy up.

Adrien sniffles one more time, before stepping away and tugging on the hem of Nino’s chest plate, a silent order to get rid of the armor. Adrien hates ordering people around, luckily, Nino has figured out what certain gestures mean so Adrien doesn’t have to tell him. Nino removes his armor. It’s a bit of a troublesome task, but he gets it done, and by the time he’s in his blue vest, light blue undershirt, grey pants and armored boots – because he doesn’t have any other shoes available at the moment – Adrien is no longer shedding tears, but his cheeks are still pink. He puts his hand on the small of Adrien’s back and gently leads him to the green couch that they managed to sneak in, sitting to the left of the prince. Adrien all but sits on Nino’s lap. His formal attire boot clad feet are on the couch and Adrien positions himself so that his head is against Nino’s chest, with the guard’s arms holding him up and close to him. Adrien has always needed physical contact, after living so long with empty hugs and ghosts of touches.

“I take it you don’t want to marry Chloé,” It’s not a question.

Adrien flinches.

“Of course I know about Lord Bourgeois’s visit and the reason for it. I know you don’t want to talk about it, but your father has given me orders to retrieve you and bring you back to the meeting,” Adrien pushes deeper into Nino’s chest. “Although, he didn’t say when I have to bring you back, but I know it will have to be soon, because word of my arrival is undoubtedly being passed to your father as we speak.”

Adrien is quiet for a long time, and when he does speak, it’s what Nino was fearing he would say.

“I’m sorry,” it’s almost a whisper.

“It’s not your fault at all. Your father was just worried about you, he wanted to protect you.” It’s the truth, the King is very protective of his son, he’s just not very good at showing it.

“But you didn’t do anything wrong!” Adrien bolts up, almost head butting Nino in the chin. “You were just being nice! You’re not an enemy to the crown, to my father and definitely not me! I know you’re not a bad guy, it was because I was being selfish that you got in trouble. I mean, at the royal parties we always go to, the higher-class people are always scowling at you because of me! And when…” Nino puts a hand on Adrien’s shoulder successfully stopping his rambling.

“It. Is. Not. Your. Fault.”

Adrien wants to protest further. The Prince may have been right about Nino not being an enemy to the crown, but he realizes that his friendliness towards to the Prince has made him _too_ trusting.

“You are right,” Nino looks straight into Adrien’s eyes. “ _I_ am not an enemy to the crown. But your father is also right.”

Adrien looks confused and like he’s about to cry again.

“ _I_ may not be an enemy to the crown, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any enemies at all. It was part of training, Adrien, part of my documentation, to make sure that I, and my fellow guards, will never betray the crown.”

“But…” Adrien sniffles, but Nino gently squeezes his shoulder.

“If someone were to want to hurt the crown or be paid a lot of the King’s fortune, they might try to get as close to the people of the castle as possible, to be able to roam and spy at their own free will.”

Nino pauses, gently wiping away a stray tear on Adrien’s pink cheek with the thumb of his free hand.

“Your father worried that I might be an enemy who aimed to kidnap you and hold you for ransom,” Adrien tenses and opens his mouth, but Nino continues. “He was right to be cautious. He wants to protect you, because while royalty might not be kidnapped as often as they do in the fairy tales, it is still a possibility that someone might try to get close to you, to use you to get to your father. Indeed, sending me away because you fell asleep on my lap in the garden might not seem like anything horrible, but when you have children of your own, you might be a little more than cautious.”

“And how would you know what it’s like to have a child, you’re only sixteen. It might just be my father,” Adrien stubbornly turns his face away. Nino sighs, letting go of Adrien’s shoulder – not missing how his shoulder slowly chases Nino’s hand for a second or two – and leaning back against the left arm of the couch, one foot on the couch and the other stretched out on the floor. He crosses his arms over his chest. He always wanted to tell the Prince, but didn’t want to get him excited.

“I don’t have a child,” Nino pauses, this is dangerous terrain, he doesn’t want Adrien to feel jealous. “But I _do_ have a younger brother.”

The shock on Adrien’s face makes him smirk. Adrien is at a loss for words, Nino never mentioned a younger brother!

“He’s six, very energetic and so very precious to me. He’s the reason I wanted to be a palace guard in the first place. I figured if I could protect the royal family, I could protect my own,” Adrien doesn’t look as shocked anymore, but is listening closely. “Not to mention, the job pays well. I can send him to school and buy my mother a pretty necklace and my father some new tools for his blacksmith shop. Seemed like the right choice to me.”

Nino looks down, embarrassed because he had just told Adrien something that should have been one of the first things he said when he and the Prince did a second, longer introduction. Adrien makes some strange noise, most likely trying to figure out how to respond.

“What’s he like?”

Nino chuckles at that. He could go on forever about his younger brother, but the King is expecting them, so he has to wrap this up, the sky is turning purple and orange after all. Nino stands up and looks to the Prince who remains kneeling on the couch.

“Sometimes… you remind me of him,” Nino offers his hand to Adrien who takes it and stands up on slightly wobbly legs. Nino is at least a foot taller than Adrien, but they both have some growing left to do. The King is a tall man, but Nino’s father is much taller, his mother too. So even when they are both adults, when this child’s soft hand that Nino holds becomes stronger and firmer, Nino will still be taller, stronger and have a firmer grip on his sword so that he may protect this small child that he believes can become the greatest king of all.

“Now then, why don’t we get back to that meeting. The sooner we get there, the sooner you can declare how you would prefer to find your future Queen… Adrien.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know that technically André should be king, because he's the mayor of paris, but it felt more fitting for the fic if Gabriel was King so that Adrien could be the Prince.


End file.
